Vol 96, No 6 (2016)

Morphological studies of the representatives of the genus Bucculatrix Zeller, 1839 from the gnaphaliella, albedinella, frangutella, bechsteinella, cidarella, and ulmella species-groups revealed numerous pairs of closely related and almost indistinguishable species. Their delimitation is only possible by the tiny differences in the genitalia structures, which are more clearly expressed in females than in males. Within the cidarella and ulmella species-groups, some species are found to form more compact subgroups. The analysis of distribution shows overlapping of the ranges for the majority of the studied pairs. The reproductive isolation of the examined sibling species may be generated, similarly to several gelechioid families (Momphidae, Cosmopterigidae), not so much by inconspicuous differences in their morphology but rather by the peculiarities of their biology (different host-plants and different life cycles) and ethology (different mechanisms of finding a mating partner).

In Xinjiang (Western China), the fauna of water bugs and semiaquatic bugs comprises 28 species of 7 families belonging to the infraorders Nepomorpha Popov, 1968 and Gerromorpha Popov, 1971. The present paper provides new data on the distribution of 19 species of 6 families (Nepidae, Corixidae, Naucoridae, Notonectidae, Hebridae, and Gerridae). Four species of the family Corixidae, Micronecta griseola Horváth, 1899, Hesperocorixa linnaei (Fieber, 1848), Paracorixa kiritshenkoi (Lundblad, 1933), and Sigara seistanensis (Distant, 1920), and one species of the family Hebridae, Hebrus pilipes Kanyukova, 1997, are recorded for the first time for China. The family Hebridae and three species of the family Corixidae, Cymatia rogenhoferi (Fieber, 1864), Corixa dentipes Thomson, 1869, and Paracorixa caspica (Horváth, 1878), are new to the fauna of Xinjiang. The record of Gerris odontogaster (Zetterstedt, 1828) whose distribution in Northwestern China had been considered doubtful was confirmed. A key to the species of the genus Micronecta from Middle Asia and Western China is given. Differences between the two closely related species Sigara seistanensis (Distant, 1920) and S. striata (Linnaeus, 1758) are discussed, and their distinctive features are listed.

The chorological analysis of the Noctuoidea fauna of the Republic of Belarus is presented, and the faunistic lists for Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Pskov and Moscow Provinces, Poland, the Polish part of the Bialowieza Primeval Forest, and Ukrainian Polesye are compared. The Trans-Palaearctic, Western Palaearctic, and Euro-Siberian species dominate in all the compared regions, which are grouped into two clusters. The first cluster includes Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, the northern part of Belarus, and Moscow Province; adjacent to it is Pskov Province whose fauna is still insufficiently studied. The second cluster unites the central and southern parts of Belarus as well as the Polish part of Bialowieza Forest and Ukrainian Polesye. The landscape and biotopic distribution of Noctuoidea in Belarus is also considered. Most of the species are forest and meadow inhabitants. The first group is formed by predominantly meso- and hygrophilous species that initially inhabited natural open habitats, and also by mesophilous and meso-xerophilous species which have occupied various open habitats of secondary origin. The majority of the second group are mesophilous species trophically associated with trees, shrubs, and forest herbaceous vegetation.

The fauna of the family Scathophagidae of Yakutia, including 44 species of 15 genera, was studied. 23 species are recorded from the territory for the first time. The Arctic and subarctic zones of Yakutia have been still poorly studied, and additional species are found there. The scathophagid fauna of Yakutia was compared with the faunas of the neighboring regions using the dendrogram similarity method based on calculation of the Czekanowski–Sørensen coefficient.

Synonymy of two genus-group names is substantiated: Tricholicinus Poppius, 1912 (type species: Tricholicinus setosus J.R. Sahlberg, 1880) = Martyr Semenov et Znojko, 1929 (type species: Martyr praeteritorum Semenov et Znojko, 1929), syn. n. and Psammodromius Peyerimhoff, 1927 (type species: Psammodromius noctivagus Peyerimhoff, 1927) = Xanthomelina Iablokoff-Khnzorian, 1964 (type species: Apristus zajtzewi Eichler, 1924), syn. n. Synonymy of the following names of the species-group taxa is established: Calosoma (Callisthenes) elegans (Kirsch, 1859) = C. (Callisthenes) declive (Dohrn, 1884), syn. n., lectotype of the latter is designated; Carabus (Semnocarabus) erosus erosus Motschulsky, 1866 = C. (Semnocarabus) erosus karascharensis (Eidam, 1931), syn. n., lectotype of the latter is designated; C. (Semnocarabus) cicatricosulus pseudoerosus Mandl, 1955 = C. (Semnocarabus) bogdanowi semnocosulus Deuve et Tian, 2013, syn. n.; Chlaenius (Dinodes) viridis (Ménétriés, 1832) = Ch. pallidicornis Ballion, 1871, syn. n.; Licinus (Tricholicinus) setosus (J.R. Sahlberg, 1880) = Licinus mongolicus Reitter, 1900, syn. n. = Martyr praeteritorum Semenov et Znojko, 1929, syn. n. = Martyr alter Semenov et Znojko, 1929, syn. n.; Psammodromius zajtzewi (Eichler, 1924), comb. n. (transferred from the genus Xanthomelina Iablokoff-Khnzorian, 1964) = Psammodromius pallidicolor (Mandl, 1973), syn. n. = Psammodromius damanabii Morvan, 1977, syn. n.Calosoma (Callisthenes) rostislavi Semenov, 1906, stat. resurr. is resurrected from synonyms of C. (Callisthenes) declive (Dohrn, 1884).